The Three Years That Changed Everything
by WastefulReverie
Summary: An evaluation of how Danny and Vlad's relationship changed for the better over the years. Christmassy fic. Christmas Truce 2018 gift for f4llingsidways on Tumblr.


**Originally a Christmas Truce gift for f4llingsidways on Tumblr! Posted a few days late on this site because I'm lazy~**

* * *

Danny's first Christmas morning since the accident was a notable one, to say the least. Of course, the night before was probably more memorable, with the entire 'Ghost Writer incident' and all, but now that things had slowed down for a moment, Danny was starting to lose his jaded outlook of the Yuletide holiday. For the first time in years, he genuinely enjoyed sitting around the Christmas tree with his family, who had temporarily ceased their annual argument.

He and his Dad were rooted on the couch; Dad was wearing his pink nightgown, cap, and slippers, voraciously trying to undo Jazz's taped monstrosity; and he was wearing his NASA footie pajamas, casually avoiding his Dad's line of fire. Jazz, on the other hand, was lounged across the loveseat, wearing a maroon sweater with sweats, intermittently sipping her cup of hot chocolate. Meanwhile, Mom was sitting on the floor, patiently distributing presents and occasionally moving to tidy up the discarded wrapping paper. She was also wearing her pajamas, the yellow ones with purple ghosts that Dad had sewn her years ago.

It was refreshing to see his parents in something that wasn't their typical jumpsuits. It removed the reminder that they were constantly armed against ghosts, ready to specifically target his alter ego. Frankly, Danny was just grateful that today was a day where he could let his guard down; no ghost hunting parents to worry about, and until sundown, he didn't have to worry about fighting ghosts either.

Mom dove under the tree again, finding more gifts to dislodge from the unorganized pile that resulted from the chaos last night. She pulled out a package from Aunt Alicia addressed to Jazz and passed it back, being careful not to crumple the ribbon on top. Underneath that present, she found a glossy, red envelope with 'Danny' written on it in elegant calligraphy.

"What's this?" she muttered, pulling out the envelope. The handwriting on it was much too fancy to be from one of her close family members, she knew them all too well to decipher that much. Perhaps it was something that Sam or Tucker had subtly slipped under their tree? Knowing her son's friends, it was probably some sort of gift-card for those video games they liked.

"Who's it for, Mom?" Jazz wondered, noticing the peculiar envelope, with the name faced away from her.

"Danny," she answered. She held the envelope out for her son to claim. Danny's eyes filled with a misty curiosity (and was that... suspicion?) and slowly took the envelope from her grasp.

He tore it open, and with a subtle bout of invisibility, Danny quickly made sure to obscure the telltale green paper from his parents' vision. He knew what this was, and there was no way he was going to accept this. Especially from _him_. Knowing Vlad, there was no telling how much money was enclosed inside the envelope, but Danny guessed that it was an unreasonable wad of cash to entrust to any fourteen-year-old.

Danny had only known Vlad Masters, AKA Plasmius, for less than five months. Though, in that short time, Danny had grown to despise everything about the only other halfa in existence. Danny's last true encounter with him was less than a month ago when Vlad devised a scheme to overthrow Pariah Dark and gambled all of Amity Park. More recently, however, Danny had met a _version_ of him in an aborted timeline that he hadn't even started to mentally unpack. With that future so fresh in his mind, Danny had to remind himself that this wasn't the remorseful Vlad he had met a few weeks ago. This was the current incarnation of the man who wanted to murder his father, the absolute _last_ person he wanted to deal with on Christmas.

When he looked again, he noticed that there was also a card in the envelope, a generic holiday card with a tree and the words 'Peace on Earth'. Making sure that the money was still invisible, Danny slid the card out of the envelope and stared at it stubbornly for fifteen seconds before finally surrendering. He opened the card and scanned Vlad's pretentiously neat scripture, finding something odd about the words. The first part of Vlad's message was written in black ink, short and to the point: _'Merry Christmas, little badger. I've been very gracious to have gotten to know you this year, especially given our similarity. I trust that you'll spend your gift wisely.'_

Below that, his message continued in a luminescent green ink, which Danny suspected was only visible to him. _'Daniel, I understand that you and I have our differences in opinion, but I'm sure that you have learned that on today of all days, those differences are insignificant. I don't like to be your enemy, but you insist on disagreeing with my ideals, so you often give me no choice. I truly like you, Daniel, I do. My offer is still open, you may join me anytime when you are ready to renounce your father. If you were to join me, I promise I could teach you how to better utilize your powers, fun parlor tricks (such as this form of writing), and copious amounts of spending money at your disposal. Once again, Merry Christmas – Vlad'_

It took a certain degree of self-restraint not to set the card ablaze with an ectoblast right then and there. Luckily, he was well-practiced with hiding his powers in front of his parents.

"Who's it from?" Jack asked. He had glimpsed part of the card's message (the part that was visible on the human spectrum, that is).

" _Vlad_ ," Danny ground his teeth, attempting to keep the malice out of his voice so he could avoid questions from his parents.

"Oh, isn't that nice," Jack smiled. "I wonder where my present from ol' Vladdie is!"

"How do you know it's from him?" Jazz wondered absently. She was on the other side of him, and had also managed to see part of the card, and hadn't seen his name anywhere on it. Danny almost gave her one of those low-key _'are you kidding me, it's obviously ghost stuff'_ glances, but he remembered that he hadn't told her about Vlad yet. Given that it was Christmas, he decided that admission could wait for another day.

"Just a hunch," he lied.

Later that night, Danny combed through the money that Vlad had given him. Five one-hundred dollar bills. Danny placed all of the money back into the envelope he had received it in, before rummaging through his desk drawer to find a blank sheet of notebook paper. He took out a pen and wrote in his signature sloppy handwriting: _'Thanks for the offer, fruit loop, but I don't need your money._ Ever _. Do yourself a favor and stay out of my house.'_ He slipped the sheet of notebook paper in with the money, resealed the envelope, and found a spare stamp to send it through the mail.

Lastly, Danny ignited Vlad's card with a careful flick of his wrist, letting it burn in his trashcan.

* * *

Danny's second Christmas as Phantom was even better than the last since all of his enemies stayed loyal to the truce. Much had changed in one year, much more than Danny would like to admit, but most of the essential aspects had stayed constant. For one, Vlad Masters seriously pulled one over Amity Park and somehow became a praised town figure, the mayor of Amity Park itself. (It made Danny feel better knowing that the only way that had happened was by mass overshadowing.) Another change was creditable to Vlad – the existence of Danny's younger clone/cousin/sister?, Danielle. Danny was growing concerned for her since the last time he had seen her was last August, right after Vlad had attempted to melt her down for science.

Even though Vlad had been a growing bother in Danny's life, Danny didn't let it faze him. After all, he was beginning to get _stronger_ than Vlad now, matching his opponent's skill-level in a fight. Not that they fought much anymore; Vlad's schemes had noticeably lulled ever since he started focusing more on his impertinent mayoral duties, to Danny's relief and undying suspicion. On average, now they only fought about once a month, more as a way to maintain their status as 'archenemies' rather than over any real disputes. Furthermore, it was November before any of Vlad's crap actually infested its way back into his daily life.

From Danny's understanding, during the entire Pariah Dark fiasco, Vlad made a bargain with the Fright Knight. He gathered afterward that this deal specifically entailed the Fright Knight serving Vlad for one year under the conditions that Vlad would be able to overthrow Pariah and emerge as the new ghost king. However, after one year expired and Vlad failed to fulfill their deal because the Ring of Rage got locked away _with_ Pariah, the Fright Knight effectively turned on him. Fright Knight used Vlad's invention, the Plasmius Maximum, against him – leaving Vlad with one option: desperately beg Danny for protection.

At the time, Danny had refused. After all, when your _enemy_ comes asking you for protection for something they practically got themselves into, it's either A) a trap, or B) a pathetically _hilarious_ situation. Though, based off a quick evaluation of past experiences, Danny was more inclined to believe it was a trap. Sure, there was the entire Vortex situation a few months back, and while that hadn't been a deliberate trap either, it still hadn't gone in Danny's favor.

Unfortunately, before Danny could put a reasonable distance between himself and his desperate archenemy, Danny's ghost sense went off and he was ultimately forced to face the Fright Knight anyway. To his surprise, the Fright Knight remembered his past fight with Danny and opted to ignore him so he could target Vlad. The Soul Shredder sliced through Vlad before Danny could even process that his enemy had been telling the truth; the Fright Knight really _was_ out to get him.

Even though it was tempting to just leave Vlad in a pocket dimension of his worst fears, Danny was better than that. Vlad wronged Danny in many ways, but nobody deserved to be stuck in that kind of hell for long. So he went after the Fright Knight. It wasn't the easiest battle since Danny didn't have a thermos nor a pumpkin on hand, so he was at a major disadvantage. At some point, he collected enough sense to message Sam and Tucker asking for some kind of back-up (between the two of them, he was confident they had enough resourcefulness to find a pumpkin in late autumn). It took an extra twenty minutes, but Danny finally managed to defeat the Fright Knight and reclaim Vlad. Fortunately, Sam and Tucker managed to find a worse-for-wear pumpkin in the clearance bin at the local supermarket.

When Vlad re-materialized his entire body was shaking, uncontrollably. For someone typically so collected it was unnerving to see him so perturbed and restless, his eyes as haunted as a war veteran's. His breathing was also irregular, bordering on near hyperventilation. Before Danny could say anything, Vlad threw himself forward and wrapped his arms around Danny. At this motion, Danny prepared to go intangible, interpreting Vlad's embrace as a hostile action. Behind him, Sam and Tucker stiffened in wary apprehension. However, Danny's fears receded when he felt a tear fall onto his shoulder.

He was baffled. Vlad Masters... _crying_? What could shake this cold, vile husk of a man into such submission? What had he _seen_ in his personal pocket dimension? What scared someone like Vlad?

Hesitantly, Danny returned Vlad's hug, comforting the uncharacteristically vulnerable man. His errant breathing hitched, and Vlad rasped quietly, " _Daniel_."

"Vlad..." Danny immediately felt like speaking made this _more_ awkward, but he resumed, "are you... alright?"

Vlad quickly shook his head, refusing to break the hug. "I..." he trailed off, lowering his voice to a whisper, "All I've ever wanted... is to be _loved_. No matter what I do, I always screw up so, so badly. And I just... want someone to accept me and it never _ever_ works."

Oh. _Damn_. How was he supposed to respond to that? This was his literal archenemy, the enemy who lusted after his Mom, blamed his father for all his misfortune, and tried to bribe Danny into becoming his son. He'd gotten so desperate for a son that he'd tried to create his own version of Danny to mentor. Danny had always written off Vlad's intentions as _evil_ plots, but he had never considered that Vlad was just severely insecure. Sure, Danny had known that Vlad was lonely, but deep down he never thought that Vlad was mentally bothered by his loneliness – Danny's image of Vlad was exceedingly warped and dehumanized. Sure, that didn't excuse Vlad's actions _in the least_ , but it meant that Vlad wasn't all the sinister being Danny chalked him up to be. Just... misguided?

After that incident, Danny and Vlad only had one significant interaction before Christmas. Mr. Lancer finally reached the end of his thin string of tolerance and snapped on Danny. He was sick of Danny missing class and giving little to no effort on his assignments, insisting that since Danny was from a _very_ nice and capable family he should be able to exceed in school without any problems. So, he physically dragged Danny up to Principal Ishiyama's office for a one-on-one talk about his performance in school. She wasn't in her office when Danny and Lancer arrived, so Lancer wrote Danny a note and instructed him to wait until she came back because he needed to return to his class. He also threatened Danny if he decided to hop out of Ishiyama's office to wherever he tended to disappear to all the time. Danny nodded apathetically and resigned to his fate at Ishiyama and Lancer's mercy.

So, Danny sat there in the chair facing Ishiyama's desk, casually awaiting his doom. There was no way his parents weren't being called after this, he felt it. _Well_ , he thought, _there goes my phone privileges and free weekends._

A few minutes passed and Ishiyama still hadn't returned to her office. The anticipation was killing (what was left of) him. And then, he heard footsteps outside the door and a familiar voice that _wasn't_ his Principal.

"So I can just wait in here until she returns?" Vlad asked.

Further away, the school's secretary answered, "Yes, she's busy with a mishap in one of the Chemistry classes. She'll be back any minute now."

Danny heard the door open and he did the first thing that came to mind: he turned invisible. If he could help it, he was _not_ dealing with Vlad today. Vlad strode through the office and calmly moved to sit in the seat Danny was sitting in. Panicked, Danny quickly turned intangible and passed through Vlad as Vlad took Danny's seat. Unfortunately, Danny's extra power exertion in such close proximity of Vlad triggered the man's ghost sense, causing his breath to turn hot as he exhaled.

Vlad sighed loudly and rolled his eyes, "Whoever is in here with me," he started, "I advise you that it would be wise to leave this facility immediately before the impetulant ghost-child catches on to your presence and decides to send you back to the Ghost Zone."

 _Great,_ his cover was blown and now this was going to be even _more_ awkward.

"Nice to know you think so _highly_ of me, but I don't think that's necessary," Danny said, regaining visibility and tangibility.

"Daniel," Vlad narrowed his eyes. "Why-"

"I didn't want to deal with you today," Danny replied shortly. "Thought I'd just avoid letting you know I was here but I guess that didn't work out."

"And why are you here?" Vlad asked.

"Got in trouble, again," he held up the note Lancer wrote for Ishiyama. "You?"

"I need to discuss with Mrs. Ishiyama one of Amity Park's new policies concerning ghost weaponry and how Casper High will be conducting a complete purge of all non-approved products by a series of locker searches."

"What?" Danny asked. "Are you trying to take away all my tech _and_ get me caught?"

"You? No, you're fine since your parents' brand is among the few approved weapons allowed. I _am,_ however, trying to seize Ms. Gray's gear back from her and expose her as the Red Huntress because of her betrayal to me and discovery of my secret. I don't think you can be upset over losing a fellow enemy, can you?"

"Wait," Danny backtracked, "Valerie knows your secret? Since when? And oh God," his eyes widened, "she doesn't know about me too, does she?"

"I don't believe so," Vlad eased Danny's increasing anxiety, "and according to her, she's known ever since that night you and she stole Danielle from me. She ambushed me last week and announced that she's done working for me. Tried to kill me too, but I easily evaded that. Since she's against me now, it's not safe letting her keep my equipment."

Danny was still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that Valerie knew about Vlad, "But-"

The office door opened, and Ishiyama walked through. She laid eyes on Danny first and then saw Vlad.

"Mr. Fenton, what are you doing here? I was expecting you, Mr. Masters, but Mr. Fenton I don't think you have any reason to be in my office at the moment," her tone was flustered and slightly angry, probably embarrassed at having Casper High's signature delinquent in the same room as the mayor.

"Mr. Lancer sent me," Danny explained, holding out Lancer's note. "He had to go back to class, but he, uh – wanted you to talk to me."

She took the note and scanned Lancer's explanation. "I see," her voice was sharp. "Well, I have a scheduled appointment with Mr. Masters, you can wait outside until we're done."

"Alright," Danny nodded, taking no time to show himself out of the office, further away from Vlad. He hadn't forgotten what happened last time they saw each other, but he wasn't ready to confront Vlad about how his crippling insecurity turned him into a complete asshole and how his problems could be solved if he stopped resorting to manipulation. (Yet.)

So by the time Christmas arrived, despite all that had happened, given last year's effort, Danny didn't know why he was even surprised at Vlad's present waiting under the tree. They were in their usual arrangement: Jack and Danny on the couch, Jazz in her chair, and Mom in front of the tree. Maddie pulled out a medium sized box with silver wrapping paper and a neat little sticker that said 'to Danny, from Vlad'. Danny knew that the gift hadn't been there when he came back from Ember's party last night and felt a little territorial that Vlad had broken into their house to deposit whatever stupid bribe this was.

Since he was under scrutiny by his parents, he had to pretend to gratefully open his present instead of just chucking it into Dad's newest faulty invention, the Fenton Residual Ecto-Annihilator (A large machine designed to remove residual ectoplasm from everyday objects, but at the moment all it did was set things on fire). He tore away the paper, opened the box, and rummaged his hand around the tissue paper until he was holding a shiny, solid gold wristwatch. Seriously, Vlad outdid this entirely – did he _really_ expect that some expensive bling would convince Danny to renounce his family?

Both his parents were agape at Vlad's gift and Jazz was glaring at it suspiciously.

"Oh my," Maddie exclaimed. "Vlad bought that for you? That's so generous of him."

"Hmph," Danny muttered, struggling to not sound sarcastic. " _Sure._ Uh, 'generous'."

"He's a billionaire, Mom," Jazz reasoned, trying to dissuade their parents from making a big deal about this obvious bribery. "This is probably nothing for him."

"That's still a big gift," Jack whistled. "I wonder what Vladdie got me!"

Danny said nothing and looked around the box for anything else. If his suspicions were right... _there_! As always, it was like Vlad to leave some sort of note. The note said: _'Daniel, I hope you enjoy this wristwatch. My father used to have one like it, never used to let me or anyone else touch it. They're sturdy and reliable – given that you take good care of it. I also figured it could assist you in relieving some of your chronic tardiness._ ' His note continued in ectoplasmic ink, invisible to the normal human eye. Unlike last year, Danny wasn't impressed by this trick since he'd accidentally figured it out himself a while back. _'Just be sure not to damage it during a fight or forget to phase it with the rest of your body. Back in my early days, I lost quite a few accessories due to reckless phasing. Anyway, this upcoming year I was hoping that the two of us could make some amends. I understand that you don't trust me and that I haven't given you a reason to, but after experiencing some of my worst fears and after pondering some of Ms. Gray's accusations during her personal attack on me, I've realized that I've been approaching my problems inappropriately for years. I never wanted to make the one other person who is like me my enemy, but I made you my enemy because I was too arrogant and tried to get everything I wanted by blaming others and tried to force others to share my vengeance. That's what I saw in the Soul Shredder, by the way – I saw my actions from another perspective and saw how disgusting and lonely I'd become, how my schemes to escape my loneliness only worsened it. I want to change, Daniel. - Vlad.'_

By the time Christmas Day was over, Maddie suggested that Danny should write a thank-you note to Vlad for the watch. Danny was irritable, but she eventually got him to sit down at the kitchen table and write a positive letter to Vlad.

Unbeknownst to Maddie, below his cheesy thank-you, Danny wrote a real letter to Vlad, answering the other halfa's request to make amends. He wrote in the same ectoplasmic ink that Vlad had used in his letter.

 _'So, clearly, Mom forced me to write that first part. I don't really care about the watch, even though it is nice, but it's clearly just another bribery, otherwise, you wouldn't have gotten something so pretentiously expensive that I'd normally never wear. I don't know if I believe you that you're trying to change, but even if you are or aren't I'm not going to just forgive you for everything. You've done a lot of stuff to hurt me and the people around me so time and a little apology doesn't change the fact that you_ hurt _them. So instead of writing me some long letter about where you went wrong and where you hope to go, actually do it. Speak with your actions instead of your wallet. When you apologize, you're actually supposed to do something – not claim guilt. So, actually apologize to my Dad instead of to me. Apologize for unjustly blaming him and keeping your grudge obsessively. Apologize to Sam and Tucker for poisoning them with ecto-acne. Apologize to Valerie for forcing her to become your warrior. Apologize for Danielle for recklessly creating her, manipulating her, neglecting her, and trying to kill her. Maybe then you and I can 'make amends'.'_

Danny gave the letter to his Mom, who was confused why there was so much seemingly blank space on the paper, but she approved of it anyway and put it in the mail.

* * *

By Danny's third Christmas, things with Vlad were admittedly different, thanks to the seeds of forgiveness that were planted the previous year. For the first two months of the new year, Danny and Vlad didn't speak at all. Danny continued his usual routine of ghost fighting and any thoughts of Vlad were none at the least and scarce at the most. At some point he told Sam and Tucker about Vlad's alleged 'change of heart' but all three of them were doubtful of it. Until, one day Vlad appeared out of the blue offering a truce, trying to prove that he had given up trying to be the villain.

It was after one of Danny's more tedious fights with the Box Ghost and Danny was just trying to get back to class. But then Vlad showed up, as Plasmius, following him in mid-air without any kind of obvious ill-intention. Danny had been fooled before by Vlad, so he kept a few feet between them in the in the air. Vlad offered Danny a truce, claiming that he was done manipulating Danny and that he wanted them to be on the same side. At this point, Danny was drastically sleep deprived and didn't have time to analyze Vlad's body language like Jazz would, and just went with his first gut answer: "Nope." And he flew back to school without a second thought.

After that ordeal, Vlad kept his distance for about another month. The next time he showed up was when Danny had gotten captured by Walker, who had locked Danny in some halfa-proof cuffs and stuffed him into his stupid flying police-van. Danny was already working on an escape plan (key-word: _working,_ not succeeding) when Vlad attacked the van and about four of Walker's guards. Once Vlad had ambushed the vehicle in the middle of the Ghost Zone and had incapacitated the goons, Danny was helplessly left sitting in his power-dampening cuffs, waiting for his savior to break them off of him. Vlad was smart; he didn't immediately break Danny's cuffs, instead, he sat across from Danny and reiterated the same offer he had proposed one month before. A truce, where Vlad and Danny wouldn't fight each other and both would maintain their distance from each other unless Danny needed some kind of mentoring or if they were given a situation that would be beneficial for both of them. Vlad then uncuffed Danny, gave him the freedom to leave, and then prompted him for his answer.

And Danny accepted the truce on one condition: he wanted Vlad to prove that he had given up on his evil schemes by either telling Jack the truth about his feelings or by becoming a better friend with Jack. In other words, Vlad could end their fake friendship or establish a real, genuine friendship.

Even with Vlad's promise, Danny was very wary and reluctant but ultimately chose to give Vlad a second (well, probably more like tenth) chance.

And surprisingly enough to Team Phantom, Vlad swallowed his pride and started actually going on actual outings with Jack. They played golf and went to bars on trivia nights every few weeks at Vlad's suggestion.

Alternatively, months after seizing her equipment in the locker search, Vlad confronted Valerie about his secret. He apologized for feeding on her thirst for vengeance and manipulating her, and she predictably screamed at him ("Filthy ghost!"). Knowing that Valerie would reply in that manner, Vlad offered her an honest deal: he would return her ghost hunting equipment on the condition that she would keep silent about his secret. He also wouldn't mandate some kind of arrest for the Red Huntress and would allow her to hunt ghosts so long as she did for justice rather than vengeance. He recounted how he let his vengeance consume him and how he didn't want to let that happen to her because she had the potential to be a true hero and her heroism stood out more than her vengeance.

"You're just saying all this to keep me from attacking you specifically," she accused.

"My girl, I don't really mind if you attack me. My only concern is what's inside your heart."

Maybe it was the fact that he was practically offering himself to her, or maybe his words resonated with her, but Valerie trusted him and returned to Amity's skies as the Red Huntress.

Vlad also made a point to follow the other stipulation in Danny's letter: apologizing to Sam and Tucker for poisoning them with ecto-acne. It was an awkward meeting since Danny wasn't there, but Sam and Tucker accepted Vlad's apology so he would leave them alone.

Even though Vlad had done what Danny had written in his letter, that didn't automatically solve everything. Of course, Danny was still cautious of deceit (maybe Vlad had cloned himself too?) but upheld his part of their agreement and respected their truce. After all, he couldn't be mad or anything now that the only other halfa in existence was starting to be a slightly better man. Every few weeks Vlad and Danny would see each other in passing (usually with Jack or Maddie in the room) and they would regard each other with a mutually cordial understanding.

Months passed by without any real progression besides that in their relationship. Until one significant day in September, Danny's second anniversary of the accident, he found himself in an alarming predicament. He couldn't speak, write, or read English at _all_. Instead, all he could speak was some kind of staticky, warbled nonsense (according to Sam and Tucker; he sounded normal to himself) his writing was allegedly chicken-scratch, and written English looked like indecipherable encryption to him. His friends did all they could to help him figure out what was happening and to hide it from everyone else, but it was getting increasingly difficult. He was just grateful that he could still understand verbal English, simultaneously afraid he would eventually lose that ability too.

With no other ideas, Team Phantom went to Vlad for help. The three of them arrived at Vlad's mansion and rang the doorbell, nervously awaiting either a solution or a condemnation. Vlad answered the door with a skeptical look, "What do you need, Daniel?"

Danny only replied with nervous eyes, absently fidgeting with the sleeve of his jacket. Sam answered for him, "He um... can't really talk in English. He's speaking some sort of other language and we figured since it's probably a ghost thing that you'd probably know what's going on with him."

And to their astonishment, Vlad grinned. "About time his core matured enough to take over the role as his brain in ghost form." With no warning, he switched to the same staticky language Danny was stuck speaking. " **If I'm not mistaken, Daniel, it's your second Death Day, correct? My core matured on my second year as well, when I was still in the hospital. It took me two months to relearn verbal English since the only people who talked to me were the nurses.** "

" **Wait** _,_ " Danny's eyes were the size of saucers, " **so this** _ **is**_ **a ghost language? And what do you mean my 'core has matured' and that you had to** _ **relearn**_ **English?** "

" **Your core has slowly been maturing since you've become a ghost, but now it's finally strong enough to function as your primary thinking organ in** **ghost form,** _"_ Vlad explained quickly. _"_ **Because of this, your** **native language has been swapped; you still know English but you don't know how to mentally translate from** _ **Qiexoar**_ **to English.** "

" **Slow down** ," Danny interrupted. " **What's** _ **Qiexoar**_ **and what does it mean that my core is now my brain in ghost form? Is that going to change my personality or anything? And does that mean that I still use my brain in human form and that I switch between using my brain and core to think?** "

"Uh, guys..." Tucker looked between Danny and Vlad, who were conversing in incomprehensible slurring. "What're you... talking about?"

Vlad switched back to English and repeated most of what he had said to Danny. "And to answer your question Daniel, you've already been thinking as your core in ghost form, but with the assistance of your brain. Now it's strong enough to become the primary center of nervous activity, so it won't change your personality. And yes, you will switch between your brain and core, but everything will feel the same in either form."

"I'm sorry," Sam intervened. "But I'm kinda concerned that he's going to have to _relearn_ English. We have school, and Mr. and Mrs. Fenton aren't _that_ stupid. So how long is it going to take for him to talk normally again?"

Vlad shrugged, "As I said, it took me two months. But it only took that long because I didn't have a true teacher and was just learning by listening to the people around me. With an actual teacher, he can converse with, me, I'd say I can get him speaking English in a week. But you two will have to help him whenever I'm not around as well if we're to accomplish it that quickly."

" **I'm sorry,** _ **you're**_ **going to teach me how to speak again?** _"_ Danny asked.

"Well, it's easier to learn a language when you're with someone who can actually understand your questions. And since I speak _Qiexoar_ , naturally I'm the only one who _can_ teach you."

Danny crossed his arms, " **Great**."

"So what are we going to tell his parents in the meantime?" Sam wondered.

"Just tell them that he has a sore throat," Vlad told her, turning to Danny. "If they try to give you medicine for it, just phase it through your hand."

" **I guess that works,** " Danny said.

Vlad continued, "We do have another problem though – Daniel's lack of speech can be explained by his sore throat, but on the matter of his schoolwork, he also has to learn to read and write again, which will take much longer than speaking."

Danny cursed. " **Hadn't thought of that.** "

"We can say he's dyslexic?" Tucker suggested.

Sam elbowed him in the rib, "You don't 'catch' dyslexia like it's a cold, Tucker."

"We can say he sprained his wrist and can't write?"

"It'd be risky, and without a note from Mr. and Mrs. Fenton the teachers may just think he's trying to get out of his schoolwork. It'd be too suspicious to have a sprained wrist _and_ a sore throat at the same time," Sam summed up.

In the end, they just decided to improvise and have Tucker and Sam do some of Danny's homework assignments for him. After all, they let him copy off of their homework half of the time anyway. Danny stayed at Vlad's house to start his first English lesson while Sam and Tucker left for their own houses. It wasn't Danny's ideal way to spend his Death Day (which he had intended to spend with Sam and Tucker at the arcade to avoid the stress related to the initial event) but it was necessary in order to learn English as soon as possible.

" **So...** " Danny leaned back against the velvet couch in Vlad's enormous sitting room. " **I've already tried saying English words. How do I... well, consciously say them?** "

" **You haven't really tried speaking English, though,** " Vlad replied. " **You just think you are. You're used to English being the first language in your head, so you're trying to say what sounds right in your head. You have to get used to drawing from the second language in your mind, and you can't do that unless you're deliberately taught how to pronounce it.** "

" **Ugh,** " Danny groaned, " **This is not how I wanted to become bilingual.** "

" **You've tried to learn a language before?** " Vlad raised a brow.

" **Well, last year I took Latin for my language credit and was hoping to continue it in college. Don't know how achievable that is, now that apparently** _ **Qiexoar**_ **is my native language.** " _Not to mention the achievability of college,_ he added silently.

" **Well, once you regain your English skills I'd imagine that learning a third language shouldn't be too hard. Once I left the hospital, I was also able to relearn Russian, since I'd learned it in college. Anyway, we should start with the English lesson. Focus on repeating the same syllable and sound that I say, rather than thinking about the meaning of the word.** "

Danny nodded, " **Alright**."

" **I'll start with something easy.** Hello," Vlad said. "How are you?"

" **Hello, how a** re **you?** " Danny recited.

"You didn't get that at all, but you kind of said the word 'are'. Try again: Hello, how are you?"

After about four more tries, Danny was able to say the phrase. They moved on to other phrases, and it would take him multiple tries before he was able to say any of them, but they were making slow progress.

Near the end of their first lesson, Danny was speaking in a fragmented mishmash of _Qiexoar_ and English, "How **do** you **say** 'I **forgot** my **homework** ' and 'I **didn't do** my **homework'? Because** I **feel like those** are **sentences** I **will** be **saying** a **lot this week.** "

"'I forgot my homework' and 'I didn't do my homework'," Vlad translated for him.

"I four-got my ome-werk. I did-end do my ome-work," Danny pronounced slowly.

"Good, but not exact. Again. 'I forgot my homework.' 'I didn't do my homework.'"

"I forgot my homewerk. I diden't do my homewerk."

"You're really improving, Daniel," Vlad approved. "That's good. You probably will be able to reorient yourself by the end of this week if your friends assist you with your English."

" **You're a better teacher than I expected,** " Danny admitted, switching back to full-on _Qiexoar._ " **Thanks for doing this. Like, a lot. I'm actually glad I took that truce now.** "

" **No problem,** " Vlad stood up from where they had been sitting, also switching to _Qiexoar_. " **I remember how miserable I was when nobody could understand me. I wouldn't want anyone else going through that the way I did.** "

Danny stood up from the couch, " **So this is it for today? I'll come by here tomorrow after school?** "

" **Yes, you need as many lessons as you can get. I'll send a duplicate to the city council meeting I have tomorrow at four so I have time.** "

From there they had daily language lessons until Danny was finally able to talk again. As planned, Sam and Tucker helped him whenever Vlad wasn't available; Jack and Maddie bought Danny's 'sore throat' lie; and besides a lecture from Lancer, he had no big problems at school. Close to Vlad's original estimate, it took about eight days for Danny to regain enough English to speak to other people. He was only at a Kindergarten vocabulary level, but that was sufficient enough to convince his parents there was nothing wrong with him. He also studied writing with Vlad and was able to write at a third-grade level after three more weeks. By mid-October, his English skills were back to normal and he had no problem speaking, reading, and writing fluently.

During their language lessons, Vlad and Danny grew close enough that Danny practically considered Vlad his mentor. By spending time with him, he realized that Vlad was really telling the truth about trying to quit being a manipulative person. He would have occasional lapses in judgment, but tried to correct himself whenever he could. Danny saw someone who was trying to change himself and couldn't disapprove of that. After all, he lived with Jazz long enough to know that change wasn't just something that could happen immediately; it was a process.

So by that third Christmas, Danny felt comfortable enough with Vlad to get him a small present, a way of expressing that even though he remembered what Vlad had done, that he was done actively hating him. And of course, Danny had to get the most inappropriate sort of gift to express that advancement.

Rather than exchanging presents on Christmas morning, Danny jumped the gun and decided to just give his gift to Vlad during Ember's annual Truce party on Christmas Eve. Most of Danny's usual enemies were there: Ember (of course), Skulker, Technus, Johnny 13, Kitty, The Box Ghost, The Lunch Lady, Klemper, and Desiree. But there were other ghosts too, ones that typically didn't leave the Ghost Zone, so it was pretty cool to get to socialize with them for the first time. When most of the other ghosts were exchanging Secret Santa gifts (he hadn't been around to be included in the drawing), he floated over to Vlad and handed him his gift.

Vlad gave him a pointed look before accepting the gift. "Can I open this now or do I have to wait for tomorrow morning?"

"It's past midnight and I want to see your reaction, so just go ahead," Danny shrugged, holding back a grin.

Vlad started undoing the wrapping paper (unlike many of the other ghosts, who got so eager that they just phased their gifts out of the box) and burnt it up in his hands once he had torn it all off. He opened the top of the box and pulled out a white coffee mug with the words 'World's Best Villain' written on the front.

After reading the inscription, Vlad deadpanned. "Really, Daniel?"

"I know," he said jokingly. "'Best' is an over-exaggeration, but you still try to be awful and that's what counts." He put his hand over his heart, feigning sincerity.

"You're hilarious," Vlad rolled his eyes. "Peak creativity too."

Danny laughed, "Sam helped me pick it out. We got a Star Wars one for Tucker. Both of you are major caffeine addicts so it felt right."

Vlad didn't say anything, and Danny suddenly found himself wondering if the gift was the wrong thing to get. He hesitantly brought himself to ask, "You're not... actually offended are you?"

"Oh, no," Vlad reassured. "I was just... I was going to leave my present under your tree, but since you've already given me mine, I was trying to decide if I should give you yours. Hold on a moment." Vlad disappeared into thin air and reappeared a moment later, holding a box with glittery, green wrapping paper. He offered it to Danny, who slowly took the present from Vlad's open grasp. Given Vlad's last two expensive gifts, he had no guesses what Vlad could've bought him this year. In fact, he was actually a little opposed to finding out. But, he had to be polite, so he opened Vlad's gift without any opposition.

Like Vlad, he burnt the wrapping paper once he had completely stripped it from the box – it was a much easier disposal method than finding a trashcan. Danny opened the box and saw five different leather books, all faintly luminescent with dull auras.

"Some popular ghost fiction," Vlad explained. "Essential reads in the Ghost Zone, all written in _Qiexoar_. All of them are informative of ghost culture and have intriguing plots."

Danny pulled out one of the books and smiled. The cover of the book was mostly blank save for the title, written in elegant, green calligraphy: **'The Ledge of Renewal'.** "These are... _awesome_. Also, I didn't realize _Qiexoar_ was also a written language, I thought it was just verbal."

"Oh, no. _Qiexoar's_ written form is the standard writing medium of the Ghost Zone's literary archive. You can't go a hundred feet without finding some kind of _Qiexoar_ writing in the Ghost Zone; you've seen it, but have probably never recognized it as another language."

"That makes sense," Danny nodded. "So these are all stories about the Ghost Zone?"

"Mainly, though one of the stories I picked involves a ghost falling through a natural portal and coming back to life. That story always humors me since it's the opposite of you and I. I've found it to be quite introspective about what normal ghosts think about half-ghosts."

It was almost indescribable how much Vlad's gifts touched him. He had been expecting some kind of high-end gift that he didn't want, but instead, Vlad had given him something much more meaningful than tangible possessions: stories and resources about ghost culture, something he struggled to understand every day. Making up his mind, Danny carefully placed the book he'd pulled out back in its box and let it drift to the floor. Then, he floated forward, closing the space between him and Vlad, boldly wrapping his arms around his mentor. Vlad tensed for a moment, caught off-guard by Danny's spontaneous gesture of affection, but quickly relaxed in the younger boy's embrace.

"Thanks for the books," Danny said, genuinely. "They really _are_ cool."

Vlad softly rested his hand on Danny's shoulder, "I'm glad. **Happy Truce, Daniel.** "

Danny laughed, " **Happy Truce, Vlad.** "


End file.
